John Grisham: The Innocent Man (UK 2018) From the Publisher: In the baseball draft of 1971, Ron Williamson was the first player chosen from Oklahoma. Signing with Oakland, he said goodbye to his small home town and left for California to pursue his dreams of glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits - drinking, drugs and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept 20 hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21 year-old cocktail waitress, Debra Sue Carter, was raped and murdered, and for five years the crime went unsolved. Finally, desperate for someone to blame, police came to suspect Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to Death Row. But as Grisham methodically lays out, there was no case against him. Ron Williamson was wrongly condemned to die. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Two murders. Four false convictions. A town full of secrets. Arrow, ISBN: 9781787463561 (December, 2018), 501 p., £8.99.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (UK 2017) From the Publisher: John Grisham's first work of non-fiction is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits - drinking, drugs and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept 20 hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21 year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jaihouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to Death Row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Arrow, ISBN: 9781784759414 (July, 2017), 501 p., £8.99.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (UK 2010) From the Publisher: Soon after his homecoming, a local cocktail waitress was raped and murdered. With no immediate leads, the police worked the case for five years before arresting Williamson and charging him with her murder. Despite no physical evidence, and based largely on the testimony of jailhouse snitches, he was found guilty at trial and sent to death row. Left to await his fate, Williamson was the only person to know the terrible truth: that an innocent man had been sent on a journey to hell. A journey from which he might never return. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Arrow, ISBN: 9780099537120 (October, 2010), 448 p., £7.99.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (USA 2007) From the Publisher: Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, John Grisham's first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence -- a book no American can afford to miss. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Delta, ISBN: 0385340915 (November, 2007), 385 p., $16.00.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (USA 2007) From the Publisher: John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Dell Publishing, ISBN: 0440243831 (November, 2007), 435 p., $7.99.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (UK 2007) From the Publisher: In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits - drinking, drugs and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept 20 hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21 year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jaihouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to Death Row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Arrow, ISBN: 0099493578 (November, 2007), 501 p., £7.99.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (UK 2006) From the Publisher: It was a story of failed dreams, madness, rape and murder, a botched trial, a wrongful death sentence and a twelve-year fight to win justice. Ronald Williamson was a local hero in his home town of Ada, Oklahoma. A fabulously talented baseball player, he excelled at college and was set to become a national sports star when injury wrecked his career. Mental illness and alcoholism followed his return to Ada, a burned-out shell of a man. While in prison serving a short sentence for a petty felony, a fellow prisoner alleged that he had heard Williamson confess to the unsolved rape and murder of a local bar girl.Denied drugs for his psychiatric problems, given a blind attorney who had never defended a criminal case, Williamson stood no chance and was sentenced to death. One of the greatest mistrials in American judicial history became one of the greatest fights for justice of any convicted man. Five days before his execution, Williamson was given a stay and shortly after completely pardoned. John Grisham has been consumed by Williamson's story, researching every detail of the nerve jangling drama of the trial and deathwatch. A court room drama and a race against time, John Grisham's first work of non-fiction is as compelling as any of his novels and will be compared to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Murder and injustice in a small town. Century, ISBN: 1844137902 (October, 2006), 360 p., £18.99.
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John Grisham: The Innocent Man (USA 2006) From the Publisher: In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits -- drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. John Grisham: The Innocent Man. Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Doubleday Books, ISBN: 0385517238 (October, 2006), 368 p., $28.95.
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